Until Death
by Kuramastrass
Summary: Life goes along great, until death strikes. When a death occurs, it starts a vicious cycle of death: death of the souls of those who live on, death of those responsible because of a burning desire for revenge. But all is well... at least, until death.
1. The Accident

**This chapter got most of the editing. I went a little crazy with adding adjectives. So it's a little long, longer than... I think all of the other chapters. (And more boring, too, as a result of the many adjectives. But it was worse. I took a lot of them out when I realized how overboard I'd gone.)  
**

**I don't own YYH. I do own Kari. How unfortunate for me.**

**This used to be up on the site, but I took it down. And now it's back. Yay!  
**

**And for a short explanation, basically, Kari is Kurama's demon lover reincarnated as his younger sister. She looks identical to him (but with boobs and about a foot shorter). Oh, and she's a bitch.**

**I hate her. I wrote this to kill her. End of story. If you want her to die more (since she dies in almost every story she's in) go read "Your Horrorscope for Today". Or, if you want her to live, try "Angel Eyes".**

**Um. Yeah.**

**Oh, yeah. Five chapters. And at least two sequels. Three, if I can finish it.**

**But no one cares. Ah well.**

**Yeah, and I had a class in Driver's Ed., and we discussed accidents and windshields... they don't crack like this anymore. Shut up! My story, my world, my logic. Nyeh.  
**

**Anyway, now I'm gonna shut up. Enjoy chapter one of "Until Death"! Review! Thankies!!  
**

Kari was bored, bored out of her mind, with absolutely nothing to do. She stood up and wandered downstairs in search of her brother. _He'd_ do something with her... or _to_ her, rather; that's what she would prefer.

The girl's older brother by the name of Shuichi was seated on the couch, his right leg crossed over his left. A book was perched in his lap. He had found this book while searching in the attic, being – like his sister – bored, and having – also like his sister – nothing to do.

The thick volume had been on a shelf in the far back, the darkest corner. No one had touched it for a long time, though the title had made it seem quite interesting. And it was, more interesting than any other book he had ever gotten his hands on.

He had never understood the intense fascination of the fans of a series of books, especially Harry Potter fans, as he found Harry Potter dull to begin with. He understood them _now..._ He simply _couldn't_ set this book down, and his finger trailed along the page beneath each word, to make sure he missed nothing.

This author, whoever they were or _had_ been, was a literary genius.

Normally, he would finish a book as soon as possible to move onto other things, but at times he would skip over whole paragraphs by accident. Each word in every sentence of _this_ book was chosen by the author with painstaking care; each sentence was a frail thing, intricately woven to create something beautiful. He wanted to miss _nothing_.

This was how his sister found him when she came into the room from upstairs. She stood before him, staring intently. He paid her no attention. "Onisan," she greeted him then.

His gaze flickered upward toward the sound but instantly shot back down to the pages before him. Normally, when she found him with a book, he would stop reading and give her his full attention. But this... he couldn't set it down...

Kari pressed on, though this response was highly unusual. "I'm bored..." To most, that statement would have sounded like a complaint in its high-pitched whine, but to her brother, it was an invitation, a request.

But he had to decline. His schedule was full; he currently had more important matters to attend to. Like finishing this book.

"You can amuse yourself, Kari-chan," he answered the girl impatiently without even looking up. Now, would she please leave him _alone_? Things were just getting good.

She turned and stormed away, tears beginning to fall from the corners of her emerald green eyes. These were not her normal fake tears... These were real tears.

Normally, Shuichi would have followed his sister, apologized for being so rude to her. Normally, he would promise to make it up to her later that night. But this _book..._

It was not as though he didn't care about her. She was the most important thing in the world. Somewhere in the back of his mind, she was still his first priority. He chuckled lightly to himself and turned another page. He'd make it up to her... as soon as he finished.

Amuse herself, indeed, she thought bitterly with a _huff_ as she plopped down on a chair in the kitchen. Her arms folded themselves over her chest. The way she wanted to be "amused" required another person. So she'd just have to find a substitute...

A pleased half-smile graced her lips when she realized she knew someone who _might_ agree to "amuse" her that way. She walked over to the phone and made the call.

She thought long and hard about the way she worded it. She needed to ask without asking directly, but he also had to _understand_ what she was asking. She finished, and after a silence that seemed to last forever, he said yes. Reluctantly.

But it was still a yes.

Without another word she smiled and hung up the phone, walking to the front door. "I'm going out!" she yelled to her brother, the only one home.

He didn't answer. He was so absorbed in his book, he barely heard her.

So she slammed the door behind her and she stormed out of the house.

- -

The driver reached slowly for the rear-view mirror and turned it toward his passenger with a single flick of his wrist. Their eyes met in the glass, and he flashed her a playful smile.

Kari forced a smile in return, the pain of trying to form one showing clearly in her green eyes. "Eyes on the road, Detective," she answered as calmly as she could, looking at him only in the glass of the mirror. Then she turned her gaze out the front windshield. "Not me."

Frowning slightly, he turned the mirror back and began to focus on the road. She was like her brother and only called him by "Detective" when she was annoyed. The rest of the time, it was his first name, "Yusuke".

But he understood her annoyance, though he had only tried to loosen the tension and break the ice. Yes, of course she was annoyed, even though this had been _her_ idea.

She wasn't _happy_ about doing this, but she _needed_ to. She couldn't help that she was like this. Since her brother had turned her down, she needed someone _else_...

The Detective had no idea why he had allowed himself to do this with the girl, knowing how protective her brother was of her. She was _his_, she belonged to him. Yet for some reason, he had told her yes. After thinking it out while on the phone with her earlier, when he was about to tell her no... against his will, from his mouth had come _yes_.

A traffic light ahead of them changed from green to yellow, and as soon as Yusuke saw this he floored the gas. They sailed through the intersection as the yellow flashed to red.

"Detective, you appear to have run through a red light."

Yusuke scowled. "It was _yellow_."

"Yes. Well." She paused. "Yellow does not mean _speed up_."

He had no answer to that. He was male; his first impulse when a light changed to yellow was to stomp on the gas. Kari smiled triumphantly at his silence.

Only five minutes later, they passed a white sign with black lettering on it, but at the speed they were moving, the only readable thing on the sign was the large number.

"Ah, Detective... I think you're over the speed limit."

"I _know_ what I'm _doing_, Kari." It was a sign that _he_ was annoyed now.

"Yes, but... this isn't a _video game_." He usually spent his free time playing games at the arcade. She began to wonder how he had passed the driving test.

And anyway, how was he driving in the first place if they were the same age?

"You're speeding when you're ten miles over the limit," he explained, beginning to lose what was left of his patience. She generally had that effect on people. "I'm only eight over."

Kari was about to respond, but at that second Yusuke swerved sharply to turn onto an intersecting side-street. Neither of them reacted as the car they were riding in hit an oncoming semi-truck with full-force. The windshield cracked and instantaneously shattered, showering shards of broken glass on them.

In the same instant, their bodies moved forward with the vehicle. They expected to be pulled back toward the seat.

But neither of them was wearing the life-saving strip of fabric, a seatbelt.

The airbag released from the center of the steering wheel, engulfing the driver. The shock of the blow was lessened, but by not much. He could feel his legs, but they were deadweights, with the circulation cut off to them. The right half of his face and right arm were scraped and bleeding from the flying windshield debris.

But without a doubt, he was better off than his passenger.

Kari had no airbag to cushion her blow, nor a seatbelt to jerk her backwards. She let out the fierce howl of the wounded wild animal as the sharp glass cut her and her forehead smashed against on the dashboard. The sound cut out when she lost consciousness.

The driver heard the scream and when it died so suddenly, he looked over at her groggily. The girl's head lay still on the dash, and she was unconscious. Though he could not see her face he could tell that her blood was dripping steadily onto the vehicle's floor.

Yusuke stayed upright for a while, but eventually he began to feel himself losing consciousness as well and rested his pounding head and chest on top of the wheel. He no longer had the strength to support himself. The pressure he applied set off the car's horn, but how could merely resting so gently could be enough force?

The Detective found the separation of his spirit from his body was so slow it was almost painful, and it was draining a lot of his energy, leaving him extremely tired and weak. But as he began to leave this world and everything faded into the background, he thought of Kari's over-protective brother and was able to stay awake for a bit longer by holding onto one thought.

_Kurama's gonna __kill__ me._

The thought echoed around in his head until he fully lost consciousness.

_Kurama's gonna __kill__ me. Kurama's gonna __kill__ me. Kurama's gonna kill..._

- Kuramastrass -


	2. The Hospital

**Here's chapter two. Yay.**

**I don't own YuYu Hakusho. Unfortunately, I own Kari.**

**Yep.**

**So, enjoy chapter two of "Until Death"! Review!**

The annoying ringing... it was the telephone.

_Damn... You're interrupting my reading._

His mother wasn't home; she was at work, and he faintly remembered his sister yelling something about leaving. He groaned. He'd have to set down his book and answer the phone himself, as he was the only one home.

He grudgingly slid a slip of paper between the pages to mark his place, shut the book, and set it down on the coffee table. He walked over to the phone and picked it up on the ninth ring. Once more, and the answering machine would've taken a message.

"Minamino residence."

"Yes. Shuichi?" He responded by doing the dumb thing other characters are usually found to be doing in this situation: nodding. "This is the General Hospital."

His hand began to shake violently and it was hard for him to keep his grip on the phone. "My... mother?" he asked in a raspy, almost non-existent voice.

"No. Kari."

He nearly dropped the phone. He had to know, but he was afraid to ask. "What… happened to her?"

"She was in a car accident," the receptionist replied with a sad tone.

His mind was a whirlwind. She wasn't old enough to drive… someone else had to have been driving.

He already knew, but he still had to ask. He swallowed once and asked. And when he did, his worst fears were confirmed. "Who was the driver?"

"A... Yusuke Urameshi."

This time he actually _did _drop the phone. What had she been doing with him? He thought back to earlier today, when she had come to him to tell him she was bored.

_I'm such an idiot. Picking a book over her... what was I __thinking__? I know her. Of course she would find someone else..._

He bent down to pick up the phone he had dropped. "You there?" was all he caught as he put the phone back to his ear.

"Yes, sorry. I dropped the phone. Yusuke is a friend of mine," he explained. _Or was..._

"We've tried to contact his parents several times, with no luck."

He thought for a moment. He could contact Keiko himself, but then it would take him longer to see his sister. Keiko would at least _care_, and she _might_ be able to get ahold of Atsuko.

"My mother is at work," he told the woman. He would prefer he wouldn't have to be the one to tell Shiori that her daughter was in the hospital, possibly dying. He knew the hospital would be all too happy to do it for him, and he could see Kari sooner that way. "As for Yusuke, you'd have more luck calling the Yukimura Diner. Someone there _should _be able to reach his mother."

He heard the rough scratching of pencil on paper. She was taking notes. "Thank you." She didn't let him answer and he heard the click of the phone being hung up, and then the dial tone. Good. He hung up his own phone. Every second was a second lost.

- -

He was at the hospital shortly. Their mother would be here soon, he knew that, but the fact that he was here first filled him with bitter satisfaction.

The receptionist recognized him instantly. He wasn't easy to forget, and when his mother had been in the hospital – this same hospital – he had come often. With her.

"She's in room 308," she told him, knowing who he had come to see. And with only a nod, that was where he headed.

He hesitated at the door. He didn't know what condition she was in. Did he really want to walk in there?

Yes.

He opened the door and walked in, to find his little sister hooked on several machines, barely breathing. With the oxygen mask on her face – and her long hair and bangs – she reminded him bitterly of Karasu. He watched her for a while, subconsciously matching her breathing with his own, each breath long, slow, and painful.

He placed his hand on her forehead, trailing it down the side of her face. Feeling something wet and sticky, he lifted his hand away, to reveal blood. He scowled. Yusuke would pay, whether or not she died.

That was when his mother came, and all hell broke loose.

- -

Hours later, the redheaded girl had a single visitor with her in the dark room. It was nearing midnight. He had called her name a few times, almost silently, and a few times she had seemed responsive.

He watched her intently now, not sure if she was awake or asleep. She did seem to realize that he was there.

He called her name again. Her position shifted slightly, as though she wanted to move, let him know she could hear him, but couldn't.

Kurama stood up, stretching. "Kari-chan... I'll be right back." Whether or not she heard him that time, he didn't know.

She would be fine if he left her alone for just a few minutes. He didn't recall eating all day and he was going to one of the vending machines they had around the hospital.

He happened to pass Yusuke's room on the way there, where he found that Yusuke had just begun to wake up. Keiko and his mother had begun crying, glad that he was alive and wasn't leaving them a second time. Yusuke glanced at the doorway, and the redhead glared at him as a warning, to let him know that while he might be alive now he was a dead man.

"Kurama," he mouthed.

Keiko turned silently to the doorway but by that time the fox was gone.

He went another way back, so he wouldn't have to pass his friend's room again. That is, if he could still call Yusuke his friend. And he came back into his sister's room to watch her last minutes on Earth.

It was five minutes after midnight when Kari Minamino took her last breath. And it was five minutes after midnight when her brother Shuichi Minamino swore to kill Spirit Detective Yusuke Urameshi.

- Kuramastrass -


	3. Death

**I wrote this particular chapter in the eighth grade... I was struggling, writer's block abundant, knowing what I wanted to do with this story but not sure where to go or what to do. Searching through all my old stuff, I came upon this, re-wrote it a little so that it would fit, and then went on.**

**So, in other words... ironically, death saved me.**

**This chapter's from Kari's POV... her dying.**

**(Armed'n'Strangerous... I think it was three or four times. Haha. I seem to take this one down a lot, don't I? But it's staying up this time! Honest!)**

**Anyways, I don't own YYH and... yeah.**

**Yeah... So, please enjoy chapter three of "Until Death". And I know this chapter's a little boring, but please review... It gets better. Promise.**

_I had a splitting headache when I was able to open my eyes. Groaning, I raised a hand to my head. The action calmed me but it didn't ease the pain._

_I looked around. I was floating in a white, weightless sea. I tried to straighten myself, not that I could tell which way was up._

_Turning slightly, I saw it: a dark hospital room, with my brother sitting alone inside it, staring intently in my general direction._

_Oh, that's right… I had been in a car accident._

_He called my name. "Kari-chan."_

_I tried to move my body. It moved little, enough for my brother or anyone else to tell that I was in a lot of pain. But was I in a lot of pain?_

_His gaze sharpened, focused on me and my body's every movement. He relaxed after several long minutes. "Kari-chan," he murmured, standing up and stretching. "I'll be right back."_

_And he left the room, leaving me pacing and spinning in circles until I wore myself out._

- -

_I found myself in a world of white. Everything blended together; the ground looked like sky, and the sky looked like ground. I reached out tentatively with a foot… it felt solid. I took a few steps forward, but I couldn't be completely sure that I wasn't walking upside down without knowing it. My footsteps echoed loudly, though hollow and empty, and created the only sound in a world that was otherwise silent._

_I came upon a forest, the first clue that I was actually walking right-side up. It was a forest of barren trees, white and shaded grey as though they came from an artist's sketchbook straight into real life, leading me to believe that it was winter. But the warmth of the sun beat upon me like a light rain and came down as a white light. The heat wasn't strong – it was gentle, as was the light. It was soothing in a strange way._

_Through the forest there was a beaten path… It was paved with concrete stones, old, and no longer used. They, like the trees, were white and shaded grey. I stopped for only a brief moment, to see if I was that way as well. Lifting up my arms and inspecting every inch of my body, I wasn't from this twisted artist's sketchbook, though the colors weren't exactly like life… They were more like watercolors painted lightly over a pencil drawing._

_I continued through the forest, my footsteps slowly changing to voices… the voices of my mother and my brother. Though, I noted with a twisted grin, it was mainly my brother._

_"Kari." They chanted my name slowly, every two steps. And every time my brother called me, I would stop, looking to the sky that now appeared light grey rather than white – not unlike most winter mornings - where I believed the source of the voices could be found. While I couldn't see him, I knew… I knew he must be truly frightened by the tone of his voice. He was believing, maybe hopelessly, that I would be able to respond._

_After seconds – or maybe minutes – of silence, I took another step. "Kari. Kari. Kari." Every time they called me, my name grew fainter and fainter._

_I neared the end of the forest. There was a definite though invisible line between this world and the next; it was similar to seeing the difference between oil and water._

_The land beyond was completely opposite of my world of blinding white; it was a world of midnight-black darkness. It was like being lost in your own mind, back in the far corners that light never reaches and where the things you don't want the world to see are hidden._

_I stood on the edge for a moment, suspended by only a thread, between light and darkness, life and death._

_The voices of my family came to me once more at that moment, loud and strong. They tried with all their power to bring me back with just their words. I wanted to; I would have if I could have. But I couldn't come home._

_I couldn't turn back now. I had to move forward, whether I wanted to or not. I knew what was coming; the idea had been floating around at the edges of my mind. I had kicked, punched, and screamed at it with everything I had until I could do so no more._

_Although I closed my eyes as the darkness leapt out to grab me with its icy hands of death, I still wasn't done fighting. I resisted it until the very end with the little strength that I had left._

_And after all of my strength was gone, I hung limply in the frozen grip. With its help I crossed over to the land of eternal darkness, where there is no heat, no light, and most importantly, none of the ones you care about._

- Kuramastrass -


	4. The Funeral

**Look at the first line. There you will see my main inspiration for this chapter. (An InuYasha one-shot that goes by the name "It Was Raining That Day" written by Kura-sama).**

**God, it's hard to type in these nails...**

**No one's reviewed the last chapter, but I'm updating anyway.**

**Since that's really all I have to say, here's chapter four of "Until Death". Please review this time, guys. And chapter five (the last chapter) should be up soon.**

It was raining the day that they had her funeral.

It wasn't a heavy rain, but it wasn't a drizzle, either. In any case, it was enough to dampen everyone's spirits even more than they already were.

Shiori cried. The rain blended in well with her tears. Kurama said nothing to anyone who tried to give him a word of comfort, though he nearly lost it when Yusuke tried to.

He came up from behind, and, standing next to him, slapped him lightly on the back three times. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

The redhead only turned his face toward him slightly, giving him a glare that screamed for blood and death, for revenge.

Yusuke avoided Kurama after that.

The service itself was a beautiful thing. If Kari had been there to see it, her brother knew she would have loved it. The rain gave an added feeling to the closeness of nature. Her resting place was a simple, wooden box. She was dressed in nothing special, just something one would see her wearing when she went out. A simple pillow laid under her head, a light blanket draped over her carefully.

Her eyes closed, she looked so peaceful, like she was sleeping. She was still beautiful, and when he had seen her there, it felt as though a wooden stake laced with poison had been thrust into his heart.

He hadn't stayed there long. He couldn't.

The box was finally lowered into the ground. Shiori cried harder than ever, and by this time, Keiko was crying as well. She collapsed onto Yusuke, who was sitting next to her, and he slowly placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

Kari's brother dropped his head to his hands, not being able to take sitting upright and watching anymore. The service ended, and the mother was led away by concerned friends and family members. A now sobbing Keiko was dragged away by Yusuke. A few more schoolmates approached the brother, telling him that they were sorry. And one by one they left.

Until there was one left.

"Shu," he began, using the nickname he had come up with for the fox.

"Kaitou," he answered, lifting his head a little to look at the boy. He still wore the pink school uniform, stained from the rain... and possibly from tears.

"I'm… sorry," he said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. He had to choke out the words. He, like the redhead, couldn't believe that such a thing could have happened.

Eventually he left as well, leaving him alone in his misery.

Or so it seemed.

"Hiei," Kurama called almost silently.

The black-wearing fire-koorime stepped out of the trees surrounding the gravesite.

"Fox." He wanted to say he was sorry, but he couldn't. "Sorry" was not a word in is vocabulary. The only time the word had ever come from his lips, he had been saying it to Kuwabara. And he hadn't meant it.

But his eyes, the two ruby red orbs, told the redhead the words he wanted to say but couldn't.

And those two glittering red eyes also saw that Kurama, alias Shuichi Minamino, had been crying, probably for the first time in his sixteen years as a human, and for the first time for as long as Hiei had known him.

- Kuramastrass -


	5. Revenge

**Here's chapter... um, five.**

**Yeah.**

**People don't really seem to care so much about this anymore... Or something... anyway, it's done.**

**So, yeah.**

**Here's the final chapter of "Until Death". I hope you enjoy. And the sequel will be coming... soon-ish.**

He woke up and stared at the ceiling, his mind blank. Or, in any case, he was trying to make his mind blank. It started to work, but it gave him a headache. So he gave up.

Slowly, he rose out of bed. Walking across the hall, he knocked on the door. "Kari-chan," he called.

There was no answer, so he opened the door. The room was empty.

Then it hit him. As hard as it had the first time, it hit him.

She was dead. His sister, his lover, his friend. She was gone.

Shutting the door silently behind him as he left, he went downstairs, to sit on the couch and not eat. Ever since that night, neither he nor their mother Shiori had been able to eat much. His stomach cried out for food, but he was barely able to eat more than a few bites. He mostly pushed bits of food around his plate with his fork.

The phone rang. He thought about answering it, but decided to let it keep ringing. He sat down on the couch, picking up the remote to turn on the TV to some black and white soap opera.

The answering machine picked up. The caller left a message.

It was Kuwabara.

Kuwabara had been at the funeral, as he did care about Kari and her brother, but he had stayed in the background and observed. He didn't want anyone to see him cry.

"Hey, man." Kuwabara's voice sounded tired and worn, too old for a boy of only fourteen. "A bunch of us are going to Genkai's. You should, too. It might be good for you." _Click_.

Sure, he would go. Why not? Maybe getting out of the house would help him clear his head and recover, return to normal.

At least, it might help him to forget about her for a while.

- -

He hated these stairs. He didn't know anyone who didn't. They seemed to go on forever, and whenever he began the climb he wondered what he had gotten himself into.

The redhead finally made it to the top of the stairs and without bothering to knock he slid open the door.

The old woman took a long sip of her tea. "So, you actually came," she said once she finished.

He nodded.

"They're out back."

He nodded again, this time in thanks. He headed out back.

Everyone was there: Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Keiko, Yukina. And they all seemed to be having a great time.

The minute everyone's attention focused on the newcomer, he turned and headed for the room that always awaited his arrival.

- -

He had lain on the bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, thinking. Something was missing, he thought – and it was. Warmth, the warmth of another body, the feel of another's flesh against his own. And he would never have it back. No one ever would - _could_ - replace her.

Slowly, the world grew dark and the full moon rose. He couldn't take it any longer. He went out back; he had to be outdoors, feel the wind blowing against his skin. He stood in the grass, near the trees, still as a statue, and stared at the pale orb in the night sky.

The entire world seemed silent until the spell was broken by the crunching of grass underfoot.

"Kurama."

He turned. "Yusuke." His head dropped, he stared at the ground.

"Look, Kurama, I'm–" But he was cut off then, struck through the heart by blades of grass that had grown at an unnatural speed and sharpened like razors. The Detective coughed blood, once. And then he fell to the ground, dead.

A figure descended from the tree in the shadows behind the fox and stepped into the light. Kurama turned, tense, though he relaxed when he saw it was only Hiei.

He had been watching the whole time. "You've lost your mind."

Kurama stared him down. Hiei had known him for a while now. But he was wrong.

Though... maybe Hiei was _right_. He may have lost the only thing he ever cared about, but that loss drove him to revenge.

Revenge is sweet, but it comes at a price.

Like a human life.

Is revenge truly worth it? To have satisfaction for only a few seconds… is that worth a human life, something that can never be replaced?

_Maybe Hiei is right. Maybe I __have__ lost my mind._

"No," Kurama answered finally. "I've lost the only thing I ever cared about."

- Kuramastrass -


End file.
